Crab Lane Primary School

Crab Lane Primary School is a good school across all key judgements, including early years provision. Pupils are happy, settled and well cared for, and they typically behave well. The school has high expectations and most pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, achieve well. The curriculum is broad and ambitious, with clear sequencing from the early years, and staff are well supported and trained. Safeguarding arrangements are effective. The school provides strong personal development, rich experiences and a wide range of clubs, trips and leadership roles. Pupils with SEND are identified quickly and supported to access the same curriculum as their peers, and phonics teaching is effective. Attendance is mostly high, and the school works tenaciously with families when it is not. Some pupils’ attainment at the end of Year 6 in 2024 was significantly below national averages in some subjects, but this was affected by a substantial number of pupils joining during the year; the school acted swiftly and most current pupils are achieving well. The main areas for improvement are reading for pleasure and early years vocabulary. Some pupils do not read widely or enthusiastically and have limited knowledge of books, texts and authors, and it is too early to see the impact of recent reading initiatives. In the early years, staff are not consistently clear about the specific vocabulary children should learn and when, so some children do not learn the breadth of language they could. This was the school’s first routine inspection since the COVID-19 pandemic, and leadership and governance are shared across the North Manchester Primary Federation.

Strengths

• Pupils are happy, settled and feel able to express themselves at school.
• High expectations mean most pupils, including disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND, achieve well.
• The curriculum is broad and ambitious, with clear small steps of knowledge from the early years.
• Staff benefit from training and support and design learning activities well.
• Pupils with SEND are identified quickly and supported to follow the same curriculum as their classmates.
• Phonics is taught from the start of Reception by well-trained staff, with books matched to pupils’ phonics knowledge.
• Pupils typically behave well and understand the school’s LEARNERS values and golden rules.
• Pupils enjoy rich experiences, including trips, visitors, clubs and competitions with other schools.
• Personal development is well provided through leadership roles, community involvement and health education.
• Most pupils have high attendance, and the school works tenaciously with families to reduce absence.
• Staff value working as part of a team and feel their opinions are valued and considered.
• Safeguarding arrangements are effective.

Areas for Improvement

• Some pupils do not read widely or enthusiastically and have limited knowledge of different books, texts and authors.
• The school has not placed enough emphasis on fostering pupils’ love of reading until recently, and the impact of new reading initiatives is not yet evident.
• In the early years, the school has not fully determined the precise vocabulary children should learn and when.
• Early years staff do not consistently introduce and revisit enough new words during learning time.
• In 2024, pupils’ attainment in some subjects at the end of Year 6 was significantly below national averages, although the school has acted swiftly to address gaps.

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Crab Lane Primary School attended 94.6% of sessions (the national figure for primary schools was 94.8%). 17.5% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 13.0%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 2.6% of pupils at Crab Lane Primary School were suspended at least once (nationally 1.1%). No pupils were permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Crab Lane Primary School had 19.1 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for primary schools was 20.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 8.3% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 15.7%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 14.8% of pupils at Crab Lane Primary School were on SEN support (nationally 15.4%) and 3.6% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 4.1%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded primary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2025–26 Crab Lane Primary School received £8,239 and spent £8,087 for each of its 410 pupils. It ended the year with reserves of £232,000 (£565 per pupil).

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24).

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What is Crab Lane Primary School's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Crab Lane Primary School is Good, from an inspection in November 2024.

When was Crab Lane Primary School last inspected by Ofsted?

Crab Lane Primary School was last inspected in November 2024.

How many pupils does Crab Lane Primary School have?

Crab Lane Primary School has 412 pupils on roll.

What age range does Crab Lane Primary School cover?

Crab Lane Primary School for pupils aged 3 to 11.

What are Crab Lane Primary School's SATs (KS2) results?

In 2025, 56% of Year 6 pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths.

Where is Crab Lane Primary School?

Crab Lane Primary School is at Crab Lane, Higher Blackley, Manchester, M9 8NB.